Andrea Peyser Goes Soft for Tatum O’Neal

When Tatum O’Neal got busted on Sunday night for buying crack and cocaine, we were a little torn. On the one hand, addiction is a terrible personal demon, and the actress has been very open about her battles with it. On the other hand, she played right into the tabloids’ hands with the lame lines she gave to the police. And this morning, things get even more confusing. O’Neal emerged from lockup laughing and decided to tell all to a sympathetic ear: Andrea Peyser. The hard-boiled harpy seemed like the best person to open up to because Tatum loves the way that Peyser has been excoriating Dina Matos McGreevey during the latter’s divorce trial. We can’t even begin to understand this line of thinking, but it totally worked. Instead of shredding O’Neal over her seemingly flimsy excuses (her dog died, so she relapsed), Peyser turns downright soft! “How can you not love her?” the columnist asks, after O’Neal admirably offered to give legal help to the panhandler who sold her the drugs and thanked the cops for stopping her from doing something terrible. She wasn’t even bitter about her night in the clink: “I slept on a mattress with a couple of ladies because I was tired,” the Paper Moon Oscar winner laughed. “And they were nice. And I thought the thing that was cool about New York, no special treatment.” Peyser ended her column saying, “I wish her well.” We do, too. But this just seems too out of character for the columnist. Is that really all that it takes for a little kindness — an exclusive interview? Or are we now the ones who are toojaded?